As early as Thursday, Erie County legislators can decide if they want to restrict the use of electronic cigarettes.
Essentially, what the law does is expand the county law which barred indoor smoking of tobacco products to bar indoor use of those electronic gadgets.
Whether they actually have tobacco products in them was discussed at length during a County Legislature public hearing Tuesday.
The differences in view were stark, with Roswell Park Cancer Institute researchers warning e-cigs offer some of the same health risks as cigarettes.
"It's regulation and while conservative values oppose over-regulations of certain things, I think there are certain industries that do require regulation and whether this is one of them is still yet to be seen," said Legislature Majority Leader Joseph Lorigo.
Many of the same arguments on tobacco products that were used years ago in the same room were used yesterday on e-cigarettes, including the argument people can make their own choices. A new argument is that regulating the e-cigs mean people who have kicked tobacco for "vaping" will be mixing with smokers outside and might go back to tobacco.
